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Sri Lanka: Tamils, left debates election

Opposition-backed presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena is supported by some Tamils and human rights activists, but others say he represents little different from the current regime.

By Chris Slee

January 2, 2015 -- Green Left Weekly -- Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa is being challenged by
Maithripala Sirisena, who was until recently one of his ministers, in
the January 8 presidential elections. However, many Tamils and leftists
see little difference between the two.

Sirisena is being supported by the opposition United National Party,
and has promised to appoint UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe as prime
minister. There are 16 other candidates.

Sirisena has promised to abolish the system of executive presidency,
which concentrates power in the hands of the president, and replace it
with a system where the parliament has more power.

This change has long been advocated by many human rights advocates,
who think that reducing the arbitrary power of the president would
improve the human rights situation. Some human rights advocates are
supporting Sirisena for this reason.

In a statement issued on December 23, the TCSF said: “Regime change
does not necessarily result in change in the lives of the Tamil people.
Both main parties in the South … are deeply embedded in the Sinhala
Buddhist [majority], chauvinist, anti-Tamil politics.

“They do not even have a minimally just position on Tamil issues. For
example both parties are not even prepared to discuss a solution that
goes beyond the confines of a unitary constitution.

“Both parties are also against international investigations [of war
crimes] ... The opposition candidate also has repeatedly confirmed that
his position is no different from that of the incumbent President with
regard to both a political solution and accountability for crimes
committed against the Tamils.”

The TCSF said changing the form of government from presidential to
parliamentary would not solve the fundamental problem: “The Tamil people
have suffered equally under Westminster style parliamentary form of
Governments, prior to the enactment of the Second Republican
Constitution. When the Sinhala Only Act was enacted in 1956 Sri Lanka
had a parliamentary form of Government.”

The TCSF also said the attacks on the democratic rights of people in
the predominantly Sinhalese south of the island of Sri Lanka are a
by-product of the decades-long war against the Tamils. In 2009, the Sri
Lankan state finally defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), which fought for an independent state in the predominantly Tamil
north-east.

It said: “The fact is the denial of democracy currently being
experienced by the Sinhalese is a cumulative impact of the anti-Tamil
politics of successive Sinhala Governments. The denial of democracy that
they suffer now is result of them being bystanders [or] endorsing the
anti-Tamil agenda of successive Governments.

“In our opinion the only sustainable path to democratization lies in
the creation of a popular discourse that is created by taking a just
stand on the National Question.”

The Tamil National Peoples Front has taken a similar view. TNPF
leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said that Sirisena is being backed by
the Jathika Hela Urumaya, an extremist Buddhist Sinhalese organisation,
as well as other groups hostile to Tamil rights.

However some leaders of the Tamil National Alliance, the main electoral party of the Tamils, are supporting Sirisena.

Left parties in the south of Sri Lanka are also divided. The NSSP
(New Socialist Party) is supporting Sirisena, whereas the United
Socialist Party is not.

NSSP leader Vickramabahu Karunaratne said the key struggles in Sri
Lanka are for democracy and against the influence of multinational
corporations, and that Sirisena should be given “critical support” for
supporting these struggles.

Karunaratne said: “When presidential candidate Maithree [Sirisena]
attacks the plunder carried out by [multinationals] with the connivance
of the government, the NSSP gets the opportunity to put forward a
consistent, clear alternative program to be carried out under the power
of workers, peasants and fishers.”

On the other hand, USP presidential candidate Siritunga Jayasuriya
said: “There is no difference between these two capitalist parties.
Choosing among them is not a real choice for the people.”

Jayasuriya is campaigning against privatisation and for cutting
military spending to fund better wages and services. He also supports
self-determination for Tamils, saying: “The Tamil-speaking population
has suffered immensely over the decades.

“I and my party stand firmly in support of the rights of the
Tamil-speaking people and their ultimate right to self determination,
including the right to secession if that’s what they desire, with the
rights of all minorities safeguarded.”